"Among the half-dozen splinter forms of omot, perhaps the most novel is PL Kyodan. PL stands for 'Perfect Liberty'... PL Kyodan claims a total of 600,000 adherents. "

PL Kyodan

world

1,000,000

-

500units

10 countries

1999

*LINK* Official web site of PL Kyodan; home page " (viewed 11 April 1999).

"Originally founded as an order in Japan in 1924, this new faith has had a rise in membership that has been phenomenal. Today PL has over 500 churches in ten different countries with more than one million of members. "

PL Kyodan

world - except Japan

-

-

46units

-

1999

*LINK* Official web site of PL Kyodan; home page " (viewed 11 April 1999).

"Originally founded as an order in Japan in 1924, this new faith has had a rise in membership that has been phenomenal. Today PL has over 500 churches in ten different countries with more than one million of members. " [Church Directory linked to to this site lists 36 churches outside of Japan: 10 in North America, 23 in South America, 1 in Oceania, and 2 in Europe.]

Figure 1-3: "Adult Religious Affiliationin Lancaster County " [Pie chart] Old Order Amish: 3%; Other Plain Groups: 12%; No Religious Affiliation: 36%; Other Religious Groups: 49%. "Estimates for all groups include baptized members, or youth over twelve years of age. " [15%: Old Order Amish plus the other Plain Churches]

"At least thirty-seven of the seventy-six denominations [in Lancaster County] are dubbed 'plain' because of their traditional dress and austere lifestyle. Like their Amish cousins, they trace their theologial roots back to the Anabaptist movement of 16th-century Europe. The plain churches represent roughly 15 percent of the county's adult population [apparently including non-baptized adherents]. Some of these churches maintain strict standards of dress and behavior. Others, such as the Church of the Brethren and progressive Mennonite groups, have blended into the surrouding culture in recent years. Progressive Mennonites, who have largely assimilated into mainstream culture, number about sixteen thousand and are divided into ten different church affiliations. The Old Order Mennonites, the conservatives, also have some ten subdivisions, with a total of five thousand members. "

"Plains Ojibwa. Separated from their Great Forest brothers, the Chippewa, the Plains Ojibwa, also called the Bungee, allied with the Creek and Assiniboin from the beginning of the 18th century. Their numbers were estimated at 1,500 in 1850. Current figures are not available. "

Occhiogrosso, Peter. The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World's Religious Traditions. New York: Doubleday (1996); pg. 306-307.

"Neoplatonism was the closest the Greek world had to a mystical belief system. Plotinus (AD 205-70), a Greek-speaking Egyptian, developed his philosophy in Alexandria, which supplanted Athens as the cultural nexusof the world, before founding his own school in Rome. Influenced by the teachings (since lost) fo Ammonius Saccas (c. 174-242), Plotinus focused on the One, a single ultimate being of pure Unity, or Godhead. His aim, as with all genuine mystics, was union of the individual soul with the One, for which he developed forms of meditation that he practiced constantly. Although Plotinus's teachings bore some relation to Plato's philosophy, the term Neoplatonism is more convenient than accurate in describing the school, which had no structured religious practices... This philosophy influenced the Gospel of St. John... as well as Augustine and the Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus... "

Platonism/Neo-Platonism

Roman Empire

-

-

-

-

244 C.E.

Walker, Williston. A History of the Christian Church (3rd ed., revised by Robert T. Handy; 1st ed. 1918). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (1970); pg. 98.

"Two other forces of importance arose in the religious world. The first was Neo-Platonism. Founded in Alexandria by Ammonius Saccus (?-c. 245), its real developer was Plotinus (205-270), who settled in Rome about 244... Neo-Platonism was a pantheistic, mystical interpretation of Platonic thoughts. God is simple, absolute existence, all perfect, from whom the lower existences come. He is the One, above the duality implied in thought... Neo-Platonism was much to influence Christian theology, notably that of Augustine. Its founders were not conspicuously organizers, however, and it remained a way of thinking for the relatively few rather than an inclusive association of many. "

"Neoplatonism. The religious philosophy which modern scholars call Neoplatonism is the final stage in the long development of the revived Platonism of the Roman Imperial period. It was a very long development. After a period of scepticism, Antiochus of Ascalon revived dogmatic, positive philosophical teaching in Plato's school at Athens, the Academy, in the 1st century BC. Later Platonism continued as a distinct philosophy, taught by its own pagan professors, till well after the official closing of the pagan schools at Athens by Justinian in 529 AD and therefore had a history of over 600 years... "

"Philo of Alexandria (25 BC - 50 AD) "; "Christ and NeoPlatonism: Various people added bits to Christianity. Philo was a contemporary of Christ and an orthodox Jew, who was into showing how philosophy prepared the mind for higher things (God). He was basically a Platonist who turned the abstract Universals of Plato back into God. This was to set a precedent. Philosophy got steadily more metaphysical and more concerned with the structure of the soul than with science or politics, or even ethics. It may have been something to do with the Roman Empire falling apart that led to more interest in religion, but combining Greek rationalism with Judeo-Christian thought became all the rage. Pure philosophy got more and more watered down. "

"In the 3rd century AD, perhaps the most decisive phase in the transition from the classical to the Byzantine and medieval world, later Platonism was re-thought and given a new coherence, strength and vitality by a great philosophical and religious genius, Plotinus (205-270 AD). It is the philosohpy of Plotinus and his successors which is nowadays called Neoplatonism. But no one at the time was conscious of any break in the development of Platonic philosophy, and Plotinus was by no means regarded as a second founder of the school. Nor would he, or any of the philosophers who came after him, have been at all pleased to be called Neoplatonists. They claimed to be expounded the authentic teaching of Plato, and to say that their philosophy was in any sense 'new' would have seemed to them an insult. "

Platonism/Neo-Platonism

world

-

-

-

-

250 C.E.

Yenne, Bill. 100 Men Who Shaped World History. San Francisco, CA: Bluewood Books (1994); pg. 21.

"In the third century AD, Plato's ideas were revived by the Neoplatonic Movement led by Plotinus, and later through the work of St. Thomas Aquinas. They greatly influenced the philosophic basis of Christianity as it emerged from the Middle Ages. "

"Neo-Platonism. This term was invented later on to describe the attempt to produce an all-embracing synthesis of philosophy and religious ideals. From Plotonius [204 - 270 AD] there was a complex system at the heart of which was this idea of the 'One', a supreme something, which was a force from which goodness emanated. Neo-Platonists unified the ideas of Aristotle, the Stoics, some of Pythagoras, mystical ideals, bits of myth and a Platonic reworking of everything in which the body was bad and the spiritual good. If this sounds like Christianity without Christ, that's probably because the Christian synthesis was rather similar. "

"The originator of the type of Neoplatonism which came to dominate the Platonic schools in the 5th and 6th centuries AD was the Syrian Iamblichus (c. 250-326). We know it best from the works of Proclus, who became head of the school of Athens, and of Damascius, who was head of the school when it was closed by Justinian in 529. These latest Neoplatonists were pious and determined pagans in a world which had become officially Christian. This is equally true of the school of Alexandria, where later Neoplatonism was introduced in the 5th century... "

Christianity:Protestant:Plymouth Brethren:Besides whatever "open " meetings there are there: Assemblies: 31 in Peru, 8 in Argentina, 33 in the Dominican Republic, more than 8 in Brasil, and about 28 in Mexico in fellowship with the "TW " (exclusive) meetings.

Christianity:Protestant:Plymouth Brethren:Assemblies: 31 in Peru, 8 in Argentina, 33 in the Dominican Republic, more than 8 in Brasil, and about 28 in Mexico in fellowship with the "TW " (exclusive) meetings. In total, Brasil has about 800 assemblies (including Open meetings).

Table 1: Canadian Current Statistics. (# of adherents is from table's "inclusive membership " column, not the sometimes smaller "full communicant or confirmed members " col.) Listed in table as "Christian Brethren (Also known as Plymouth Brethren). "

Table: "Membership of Religious Groups in Canada "; Membership figs. based on reports from group officials. Figs. are inclusive: refer to all "members, " not simply full communicants. "Christian Brethren (also known as Plymouth Brethren) "

Table: "Membership of Religious Groups in Canada "; Membership figs. based on reports from group officials. Figs. are inclusive: refer to all "members, " not simply full communicants. "Christian Brethren (also known as Plymouth Brethren) "

Table: "Membership of Religious Groups in U.S. "; Based on reports from officials by each group. Figs. inclusive; refer to all "members ". Listed as Christian Brethren (also known as Plymouth Brethren)

Christianity:Protestant:Plymouth Brethren:Besides whatever "open " meetings there are there: Assemblies: 31 in Peru, 8 in Argentina, 33 in the Dominican Republic, more than 8 in Brasil, and about 28 in Mexico in fellowship with the "TW " (exclusive) meetings.

Christianity:Protestant:Plymouth Brethren:India: Kerala-has more than 400 assemblies. Andhra Pradesh also there will be not less than 500 Assembleies. Tamil Nadu may have around 400 assemblies while Karnataka may have 200 assemblies.

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